Brussels on a carfree Sunday. Photo: © CapturePB / Shutterstock.com

Top 12 measures to limit car traffic in cities

A study by Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies has screened nearly 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from all over Europe, since 2010, to identify measures used in cities to successfully reduce car use. The researchers decided to study car use as it has tremendous impact, being the second largest (and growing) source of climate pollution in Europe, a leading killer of children in the US and Europe, the principle cause of stress-inducing noise pollution and life-shortening air pollution, and a leading driver of urban environmental injustice. The most effective measures were:

Congestion charges, in which drivers pay to enter the city centre
Removing parking spaces and altering traffic routes
Limiting traffic zones (excluding all but resident traffic from an area)
Mobility services for commuters (such as free public transport passes)
Workplace parking charges
Workplace travel planning
University travel planning
Mobility services for universities
Car sharing
School travel planning (helping students and parents to walk, cycle or carpool to school)
Personalised travel planning
Apps for sustainable mobility

The conversation, 14 April 2022, https://theconversation.com/12-best-ways-to-get-cars-out-of-cities-ranke...

Road traffic

In this issue

IED review may bring justice to affected citizens

The proposal for the review of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) reveals several improvements, but there are also serious flaws when it comes to reporting and adapting to climate targets.

Editorial: Clean air narrative must include lifestyle changes

Spring has arrived in Sweden and the trees are bursting into leaf. But these are also worrying times ...

Air quality still a major health risk for Europeans

The Covid lockdown led to reduced pollution from traffic in 2020. Nevertheless, 96 per cent of Europeans were exposed to harmful levels of fine particultate matter (PM_2.5).

Will FuelEU Maritime deliver on decarbonisation?

Policymakers should introduce dedicated quotas and incentives to boost demand for hydrogen-based shipping fuels.

Flanders acts on nitrogen pollution

In April the Flemish government presented a proposal to deal with the high levels of nitrogen emissions in the region.

CCS around the world

This is a continuation of an article from the previous issue, here presenting the situation for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Australia, China and the US.

Bye, bye oil, hello peace & democracy

We can get rid of oil, is the chief message of a new AirClim report, Phasing out oil. Many of the methods and policies were in fact devised in 1974, and many have been added since.

Implications of the Russian military attack on Ukrainian nuclear facilities

Russian military attacks on Ukrainian power plants were the first real example of an event that was always considered a theoretical scenario.

The Paris Agreement climate goal is within reach, but requires steep emission reductions

Over the past year Climate Action Network Europe, Climate Analytics and AirClim have been working on an analysis of pathways ...

Are we really on track to limit temperature rise below 2°C?

A recent Nature article by Malte Meinshausen et al.1 received considerable attention in the media under the headline that current countries’ pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may limit global temperature rise to just below 2°C.

EU carbon market must deliver faster emission cuts

There is an overestimation of the carbon-allowances needed and the current proposal will even be inadequate to meet the 2030 target, according to new research.

Fossil advertising – halfway towards a ban

A campaign that is calling for a ban on fossil advertising at EU level is well underway. Its main objective is to achieve an EU ban on fossil advertising through a citizens’ initiative that is currently collecting signatures throughout the EU.

Planning for a green recovery

While the war is still ongoing, the Ukrainian environmental movement has already started to plan for how sustainabilty can be integrated in the rebuilding of their country.

Climate change and other threats to marine life in the Baltic Sea

Researchers conclude that climate change represents the overarching factor, affecting almost all the other natural and human-induced factors in the Baltic Sea.

Marine heatwaves forecasted

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are extended periods of extremely warm seawater. They can have very serious consequences both ecologically and socioeconomically.

1.5°C: a tipping point for the Arctic

A recently published briefing by Climate Analytics summarises some of the observed and projected impacts on the physical, biological, and human dimensions ...